The calendar says it is January. Right? No snow or cold enough temperatures for the outdoor rinks to be flooded. What gives? People are confused; animals are confused. Birds don’t fly south and the new winter getaway in now Minnesota. Hopefully, Mother Nature will cooperate and we will still have a Minnesota Winter.

Well, we are halfway through the hockey season. I hope your Knight is enjoying the game and learning and developing their skills. As parents, I also hope you can see improvements from the beginning of the season for your son / daughter and their team.

As an association, we need to constantly evaluate the way we conduct business; from registration, recruitment, fundraising etc. Input from the association membership is extremely important and always welcome. Please share your ideas.

Good luck to the Irondale teams participating in the January tournament at the SuperRink.

Keep your blades sharpened and your shots on goals.

See you at the rink

Tom

Team updates:

Irondale Bantam C:

December 15-17 the Bantam C team played in the Edison Tournament. We were kind of the home team since we have some Edison kids playing on our team. The first game was a big win with the Knights beating a team from Watertown South Dakota 7-4. The second game was a battle with Prior Lake-Savage in what was a 3-1 game until the Knights sealed the victory with an open net goal with 6 secs. to go. Then it was on to the Championship game. It was a great game with the Knights scoring first but unfortunately they gave up 3 unanswered goals. Congratulations to the team for 2nd place in the tournament.

The Irondale A-Peewee team was in a scoring rut through the middle of December. In a dreadful run of games heading into the Hutchinson Tournament the Knight’s scored just eight goals in eight games. In five of those games Irondale was scoreless. Then came the spark at Hutchinson. The opening round saw Inver Grove Heights overpower Irondale. Inver Grove Heights is a team that Irondale had played in recent years quite strongly, to a close win and a tie. We were surprised at their size and ability and were wondering what was in the water in Dakota County. Instead we found out that South St. Paul had joined IGH for this season. Game two was a complete reversal against a weak Worthington team and a 15 to 0 win. The Sunday finale would pit Irondale in a rematch of a great A-Squirt game two seasons ago against New Ulm. The scoring streak continued with a 6 to 3 victory and the Tourney Consolation Championship.

Since Hutchinson the A-Peewees have continued to gel in strong away games with Johnson and Minneapolis-Park. After 8 goals in 8 games, the boys have scored 25 in the last 4 games. Heading into the New Year the team has 3 wins and a tie in the last 6 games. The player’s confidence and teamwork have given the team strength. Coaches Doug Loahr and Tom Lucarelli have been smiling a bit more lately.

The Players: **deleted for web by IYHA Web Administrator. Players are listed in original newsletter**

Irondale 12U A:

What time is it? Knight Time!

They may be small in number but big in playing hockey!

Coached by John Donovan, Steve Stimmler, Mark McDonald, and Brad DeKanick, they have 2 lines and a goalie.

The Irondale U12A girls team took 3rd place in the Andover tournament this weekend.

Knights lost to Andover (0-4) but came back strong to win over: SLP/ARM/COP

(5-1) & Forest Lake (2-1 in O/T) #4 Marie Petrangelo was hot in the second game with 2 goals and an assist.

They have won 3 out of 4 of their season games going into this tournament

Please feel free to come to the meetings. If you wish to have a copy of any information which is distributed at any meeting, please email or call Niki and it will be mailed to you. Upcoming dates for 2005 Board meetings are the

third Thursday of every month at 6:30 p.m. Our meetings have at in the New Brighton Family Service Center.

2006: December meeting CANCELED. Next meeting is in 2007: January 18, 2007.

NOTE: If you wish to be on the agenda for the meeting, please contact Tom Lucarelli.

Lake Region Board Meetings:

Lake Region Hockey meetings are open meetings. Contact Jeanne Falconer for dates and times of the next meetings.

Sponsorships:

Sponsors for teams are listed below. This part of the newsletter will continue throughout the rest of the IYHA season. Please notify Niki Gjere of any additions or corrections. (Please forward information about websites and addresses, etc.) Many thanks to our sponsors!

a.Initiation Refunds: Had been discussed at the last meeting. Discussion about how we fund rebates. Need to have a specific discussion at the Board level about how we do the refunds. We had collected the money for the Initiation program, Lake Region money had come in then for a rebate. This year will refund the Initiation players / families. Then will set a specific date for the upcoming years for rebate deadline.

b.Information: Shared information at the Board of Directors level. Cheryl would like access to information about the rosters and players. Last year the auditor received the registration forms. Can have the information to do the job.

c.Website: Inconsistent information out there about what roster information can be published or not. Mounds View school district has a policy that information is not posted on the website. However, on the High School website there is first name, last name, etc. Niki hasn’t asked the Risk Manager of Mounds View School system about why this is inconsistent. Will review information for next year to assure that permission is obtained to post first name, last name, and jersey number. Being updated.

Board of Directors Roundtable:

President: Tom Lucarelli. Thank you to all that are working on the Thanksgiving Tournament. Ernie is happy with how the Irondale side is going. Tom wishes all of the teams well in participating in their tournaments.

Vice President: Cheryl Mason. Minnesota Community Giving Foundation—received $500. General Mills does not have a Time and Talent match. There isn’t a lot of documentation about what needs to happen when. Tournament Registration—will have a fine or penalty for late registration with District 2 / Minnesota Hockey. Working to increase profitability of various items. Want people there at 0600 on Friday morning. Raffle tickets are going well. Jeanne—just received information that the Tournament will be sanctioned.

Secretary: Niki Gjere. Newsletter deadline is December 1st. Next meeting on December 14th –will look at schedules and see if people can make it or not. Will send an email out tomorrow. Concern about January tournament if we don’t have a December meeting—need to be able to do the work.

Treasurer: Tom O’Keefe. Dan Marcouiller asked if we wanted to buy an ad in the program for $100. Motion to give $100 for the Boys High School program, to be added to the Vice President budget, (TO), (JF), motion carried. Motion to give $100 for the Girls High School program, to be added to the Vice President budget, if they request it (TO) (CM), motion carried.

Need to have a policy, formalized, about if payment delinquency. Full text includes:

“Player Payment policy:

Participation in youth hockey is relatively expensive. The Irondale Youth Hockey Association strives to keep participant costs low through a variety of fundraising activities and the near exclusive use of volunteers to perform association activities. The Willard Fund is available to assist players and their families in a portion of the cost on a reimbursement basis if they are able to demonstrate need. Nevertheless the costs of participation must be paid.

Each team has a volunteer treasurer whose assignment includes collecting funds on a monthly basis from players, typically their parents or guardians. The association also has a volunteer treasurer who is responsible for collecting funds from the teams and paying association bills.

The team treasurers will set a due date for player payments. If payment from any player is late the treasurer will contact the responsible party, typically a parent or guardian, for payment. If the team treasurer is unable to collect within two weeks of the due date, the team treasurer will contact the association treasurer with a description of the situation. The association treasurer will then initiate contact with the responsible party. The association treasurer will explain the association policy for player payments and attempt to collect payment.

The association treasurer is unable to collect within one month of the due date, the treasurer and the rest of the IYHA Board Executive Committee plus the associate coordinator (boys, girls or initiation) will decide if the player is allowed to continue participation.

If the players payments are brought up to date, the group made up of the IYHA Board Executive Committee plus the associated coordinator may allow continued participation.”

Boys Program Coordinator: Mark Mohar. Going well. High School tryouts are almost done. Tom O is reporting good reports from the Coaches and Player Development clinics.

Girls Program Coordinator: Mike Nundahl. Things are going well. Did get contacted by getting the girls in at the high school to play in between periods. Was a question if the board and Plexiglas were available from Columbia—Tom L has been checking. Will let people know if what happens.

Initiation Program Coordinator: Absent.Report emailed prior to the meeting.

1). Teams/rosters completed. Info sent to Jeanne
2). Thanks to Mark and Mike for willingness to swap ice (U of MN for other). IP ended up with almost 40% ice @ U of MN. Proposal to swap 11 hours sent - Jackie is reviewing.
3). Working with Tom Mickus to conduct a 'bring a friend to hockey'. Target late November early December. .
4). Team managers for IP are nearly complete. Planning managers / parents meetings beginning next week.
5). Need to contact Tom O. To get est ice costs per IP level.

Ice Commissioner: Jackie Rog. Girls ice is out, boys program is coming out soon. Working to sell some ice. Not sure what we should do about Park ice. Will not formally do anything, there are some individuals that are working on ice rink maintenance. Re: ice schedule—there have been requests to change ice—is dependent on the individual to try to trade ice. Note: Tournaments and ice that we have scheduled. If we know of tournaments, let Jackie know so she doesn’t schedule tournaments during those times.

District Representative: Tom Welty. Absent. Report emailed prior to the meeting. District 1 Update – November

·The district President want to make sure all associations have updated the link on their web sites to reflect the new district web site (which is up and running). I have emailed the IYHA webmaster and asked him to make the change on our site.

·The “Schedule” Tab on the new district web site does not work, but in the body of the site there is a link to all district schedules.

·Association ice schedulers and coordinators should double check the schedules that are posted on the web to make sure they are accurate and the same as the information that we have.

·The “old” district web site is being turned off this week.

·We (IYHA) need to turn in something to the district to get our $500 rebate for recruiting activities. I would be happy to coordinate this, but I need some help getting some information. The district is not going to be I.R.S. picky about receipts, but we should make an attempt to pull together some evidence that shows we spent over $500 on recruiting. Jackie or Tom O., do we have an invoice from the super rink showing the hours of ice we used for our “Let’s Try Hockey” session? If so, could I get a copy? Bob, do you have any receipts for the juice and cookies that we had there? Jeanne, do we have any receipts for the flyers that we sent to the schools? Cheryl, do we have any Parade associated expenses that we can document? The ice bill will put us over $300 I believe. We just need $200 more in receipts and we can submit it to the district and get reimbursed.

·The District Director is not happy the way scheduling was handled this year and he has vowed that this is going to change. The district is leaning towards doing the scheduling themselves and then handing out the schedules. A couple of ideas floated were the district buying the ice, doing the schedule and then billing the associations, or, all associations turning in a designated amount of ice to the district and then the district using that ice to do the schedule themselves. If anyone has any thoughts or strong feelings on this, please let me know. There will be a vote in March on the way that it will be handled in coming years.

·The ice at Edison Arena is OUT. There is no ice at Edison Arena now. They have a problem they need to get fixed. We should check our master ice schedule and see if we have any Edison ice coming up. If we do, we had better check with Edison Arena to see how the repairs are coming.

·District 1 is carrying a balance of funds that is too large. The balance right now is about 60k and they want to carry a balance of about 30-40k. There are discussions on how to reduce this balance. For starters, the district board voted to eliminate the administrative fees that would normally be charged to the associations for the coming season. This will save us approx. $858 for the coming season. The working plan is to wait until the end of the season, then rebate the excess back to the associations. Because the fees the district charges are per team, the rebate would be based on the numbers of teams each association fielded over the last three years. The thought on waiting to the end of the season was that, depending on how the new scheduling plan is handled, the district would have a better handle on where it is financially and also giving out the rebate at the end of the season would give associations some working capital for the coming season.

·Based on a well-worded and well-timed email from our own Bob Gabler, the District Director has been spending some time figuring out how we can get kids out to try hockey without having to pay insurance on everyone of them. Tom Mickus’ research found that this is frequently done throughout the country and USA Hockey has forms and a procedure to be followed to properly accomplish this. Tom Mickus is getting the forms, but we can begin making plans, if we wish, for a “bring a friend to hockey” day. There, with a couple of necessary forms filled out and a minimum amount of equipment on the participants, Mites and Squirts (and of course U8s and U10s) can bring a friend out on the ice and try hockey. Good work Bob. I’m sure we will be hearing more about this in the coming weeks.

·A representative from St. Paul Academy High School made a courtesy call to the district meeting to introduce himself and his program and to explain how his school, because they are deeply concerned that some bantam aged kids quit hockey and leave the sport, would like to have a Bantam B or C team play in our league next year. Remember, a few months ago, a representative from Minnehaha Academy came and made a similar presentation in which they, too, were deeply concerned about those B and C level Bantam kids who were quitting hockey. Now, if you are asking yourself, “Gee, I wonder why these private high schools are suddenly becoming so interested in B and C level Bantam hockey players?” then you are asking the right questions. The reason these people come to the D1 meetings is that their schools are located within the D1 boundaries and they need D1 approval, but….this is really a state-wide issue that will be addressed by Minnesota Hockey in the near future. I’m sure you’ll hear much more about this issue if you read Let’s Play Hockey in the coming weeks, months and years. (If you think that this really doesn’t affect us, think how long it would take, if all the private schools start to develop youth hockey programs, for that little school on Gardena Ave. in Fridley to begin their own program to keep up).

·The Como PeeWee team is going to play B this season instead of A. They apparently scrimmaged both Washburn and Edison A teams and got beat badly, so the district is allowing them to play B only, but casting a skeptical eye in their direction. PeeWee people, watch this. If this was a bogus decision by the district, let the district rep know so he can bring it up at future meetings.

·The Highland B2 bantam team didn’t want to play everyone in the district.

·Even if the District 3 league that our C Bantams play in play 1.5 hour games in district 3, it is still District 1 policy that these games are 1 hour games when played in District 1. (Home games).

·C Bantam, U12A and U12B teams (teams playing in leagues outside of District 1) need to get your schedules to Tom Mickus so he can make sure we have referees scheduled.

·Initiation Registration will be the first Saturday in December and Highland Arena. Registrations will be one hour and starting at 8:00am will work through the district alphabetically. My calculations put Irondale at 1:00pm, but I would email Tom Mickus or check the district web site to make sure of the time.

·Inver Grove Heights Squirts want to come in and play in D1 next year.

·Richfield PeeWee B needs a goalie.

Registration Coordinator: Jeanne Falconer. Everything is set except for Initiation. District has set for the date for signing off the books.

Equipment Manager: Randy Bortot. Absent, no report.

Standing Reports:

Lake Region Hockey Association: Jeanne Falconer. Meeting is on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Fire Station on Hodgeson.

Player and Coach Development: Mark Mohar. Player clinics started 2 weeks ago. They have had decent reviews. Will be helping out a lot—should see an improvement. The 20,000 puck club—had 4 return their sheets. Will get a hooded sweatshirt from Lettermen’s. Will try to continue that program in the future. Will have goalie clinics once or twice a month starting in December.